Purest Magic
by Crazy Hyper Active Nyx
Summary: Two magical girls that go on adventures together, full of action and such, Juliana's POV for Pure of Spirit, Pure of Soul by ARTEMIS13 MAXIMUS
1. Chapter 1

C-H-A-N: So my friend **ARTEMIS13 MAXIMUS (****.net/u/1954989/**** )** and I have started watching Merlin on ABC, and decided that we wanted to write a fanfic on it, I am only writing Juliana's POV on it, she wrote the beginning part that is Merlin and Arthur (which I included so it makes more sense to everyone), she also will be writing Alianor's POV, and she has most, if not all, of the ideas for this story, we also are still continuing our FF7 story

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The narrow path cutting through the tangled brambles and ancient trees of the forest trembled as the convey of soldiers trotted down it, their steeds shying away from beckoning shadows extending out from either side of the crudely formed road. It was nearing dusk, the last rays of sunlight piecing the thick canopy of leaves above, rippling over the forest floor in small golden pools and patterns of light. The soldiers moved quietly, the dying light casting a glowing sheen on their amour, and reflecting from the golden emblem of a dragon pictured on each of their chests, marking them as knights of Camelot. At the front of the columns of soldiers rode two young men, each as profoundly different from other as possible. One wore his armor and uniform with ease, the hard will in his deep blue eyes and the authority emitting from his presence marking him as Arthur, heir to the throne of Camelot, and leader of the knights that were riding behind him. The other was attired in the worn clothes of a peasant, and weaponless, yet there was a slight spark of otherworldliness that glimmered in his face, the sense that he was something quite different from the battle-fit men surrounding him. He was Merlin.

Arthur peered into the woods, searching the gathering darkness. He spoke, his voice breaking the undisturbed silence of the forest,

"There's been no sign of the creature for hours Merlin. For all we know its disappeared, back from wherever it came." Merlin gazed at Arthur, studying his face, noting that Arthur's teeth gritted in frustration as he spoke, that his eyes were crackling with displeasure. Arthur had been in this state of aggravation ever since he, his knights, and Merlin had set out in pursuit of the White Stag a day ago. Arthur thought the quest to find the Stag was purposeless journey, he believed that the White Stag was either a total myth or destined to never be found. Merlin glanced back at the knights, who rode in silence, their usual boisterous banter and conversation stilled by the frightful legends that originated in these woods, tales of vicious beasts and untamed magic that flowed to Camelot from among these time-worn trees. What the knights could only barely sense, Merlin felt coursing through him: the power of this forest, a raw energy of nature untouched by human hands. These woods held many secrets, first among them the mythical White Stag. Turning back to Arthur, Merlin murmured,

"I know you don't like it Arthur, but Uther ordered us to find the Stag. Until we have evidence that it does not existent, we can't turn back."

Arthur fixed Merlin with a withering glare, the kind only a royal could give without appearing outrageously condescending,

"The knights were created to protect Camelot, not to go chasing after mythical animals for my father!"

"Its not a myth Arthur!" Merlin insistently responded, "It was seen just two days ago on the edge of this very forest, only a few miles from Camelot."

Seeing that he would gain no ground on this line of argument, Arthur switched subjects,

"And I still can't believe _you_ were sent to accompany us. In a fight you'll only be in my and the knights, way." Merlin bit his lip to keep back an enraged reply. He had long learned it was futile attempting to argue with Arthur. Instead he said, slowly as if explaining to a child,

"The White Stag is a being of magic. To subdue it, you'll need someone who knows magic, not just how to skewer a man on a sword." Arthur growled something unintelligible, and turned his radiant blue eyes, no less displeased then they were before, back to the forest. Merlin sighed, and silently wished that something, anything would happen to make this trip a little more…. lively. Then he too cast his eyes towards the shrouded trees, their leaves waving like black phantoms in the darkness, and allowed his focus to drift towards the magic pulsating through these woods until he had lost himself in endless dreams of power that grew, and took form in the night.

Juliana's POV

"Juliana…." This was the first thing I heard, waking up after a few hours of sleeping. The voice I heard, the voice that woke me up, belonged to my friend, actually, my best friend. We had been traveling in these magical woods for weeks, my body was sore, and my eyes were heavy with exhaustion, though it was a hard thing to notice unless you knew me. I snapped my bright green eyes open, seeing my best friend, Alianor with her beautiful long blonde hair, tied into two braids, swinging down her back, and her clear blue eyes gazing at me. I leaned forward and gathered up the coarse material that I used as a blanket, and put it carelessly into my pack. I ruffled my hair, and smoothed it quickly back down while I stood up and asked Alianor,

"Ready to get going again then, Alianor?" She merely nodded her head, telling me,

"We should be able to walk all night since we're rested." We both seem to find it much easier to travel at night, not only does the light not irritate our eye, we do not run into other people, who cannot seem to understand us or our magic. We also do not run into any of the creatures that inhabit this forest, and they do not bother us. We both worked on quickly packing up our few worldly belongings, a meager supply of food and basic supplies. Our most prized items that we carried constantly with us: my lovely set of deadly sharp daggers, Alianor's magnificent sword, an ancient book of magic barely held together by its bindings, and a few objects whose meaning only we knew. We quickly put our packs onto our backs, but then I noticed something, something that I hated having to bring up, but I did anyways for Alianor's own good…always for her good. Turning to her I raised my eyebrow, letting Alianor know I had noticed what she was trying to get away with, asking her patiently,

"Alianor…is there any good reason why you aren't wearing your glamour right now?" She scowled at my questioning, and immediately turned her gaze down to the ground and stated

"I shouldn't have to conceal who I am. Being a woman shouldn't put me in danger." She said this with spite and hate weaved into her voice. I sighed mentally to myself, think about how we had been having this particular argument for a very long time; it arose whenever Alianor had to assume a glamour that altered her appearance into that of a man's. As much as I hated it myself most, if not all, men would frown upon two female warriors traveling unescorted, which is if they didn't kill us immediately. Women are never allowed to go after magical creatures, or to learn to fight with a sword. I gave an exasperated look to Alianor, before asking her to just go along,

"It _shouldn't_ put you in danger, but the fact is it does. And while I know we can defend ourselves perfectly well, I don't particularly want to be running into trouble wherever we go. Just put the glamour on Alianor, for my sake if for nothing else." I hoped that she would listen to reason; it was for her safety, always for her. Though she was still upset with me she muttered the enchantment that would put a glamour over her, making her appear to be a man to the outside world. She now seemed to be a well-built man with shaggy blonde hair, and brilliant blue eyes. I could tell that she was uncomfortable, that she felt like a whole other person. She shook out her limbs and muttered angrily at me,

"You and your bloody short hair Juliana." I could barely contain my smirk at her comment; it really was her own fault that she had to use a glamour while I didn't, if she would just cut her hair. I had no real need for a glamour, my short hair easily passed as a man's hair, not to mention I have a smaller chest than her, making it much easier for me to hide under baggy clothes. We had also realized that most men wouldn't question if I was a man or not for fear of insulting me and incurring the wrath of my daggers. Seeing how annoyed Alianor was with me, I figured that I might as well tell her the truth,

"If you weren't so vain Alianor, you would cut that hair of yours, wear loose clothing, and then neither of us would need a glamour." She simply glared at me, upset that I have a habit of pointing to the truth of her more absurd convictions. With her glimmer on we finally left, leaving to go deeper into the forest. We only needed the magic of the forest, and the magic of what we were looking for, to guide us to what we are seeking, the White Stag.


	2. Chapter 2

Alianor and I had stopped for a quick break from our search for the White Stag, we still had a few hours of night before the sun would come up and we would have to get some sleep. While we had stopped, I decided that I wanted to look at the book of magic that we had to double-check the facts we had on the stag. However, I was having some troubles getting the book out of my bag, that darn blanket was in the way, and the book kept getting tangled in the blanket. This was getting very frustrating; every time I thought I had the book the edges would get caught on a different part of the blanket. Right as I decided that I might as well give up I heard Alianor's voice in my head, not a unique occurrence; Alianor has a particular gift of magic: telepathy, allows her not only to read minds, but also to supplement them with her own thoughts, to communicate through minds, not a power she uses often seeing as most normal people are used to hearing voices in their heads. _Get up slowly and look across to the next hill. The Stag is here. _As soon as I heard Alianor tell me this I gracefully and silently, as to not scare away the creature, stood up and turned around, cursing myself for not noticing the shift in magic near the creature. As I saw the white stag I could not help but let as small gasp escape my lips. This creature was simply amazing; it had an aura that screamed that it was otherworldly, which it just might be since it was made from magic itself. It was staring up at the moon, almost glowing, this is a picture moment of magic, this was one of those moments that proved that not all magic was evil, that not all magic was used for self gain.

_Isn't it beautiful? _Those were the unspoken words between the two of us, hanging by the thread that Alianor had established. I simple nodded, very much aware that the joy was even seeping into my eyes, visible to Alianor. For a few moments we stood there, simply admiring the beauty of the scene before us, the beauty of the magic in front of us. I suppose we shouldn't have let the magic absorb us as much as we did, because we didn't even notice the noises around us, noises that should have never been this deep in the forest. We only noticed the voices of multiple men, and what I assumed to be their horses, when the amazing creature in front of us was startled, running away from the spot it had been in only seconds previously. I was internally cursing at myself for being memorized so easily, for not noticing the nine men that were now before us. We now had two main options: we could run, in which case the men would obviously chase after us I doubted that we would be able to get away even in these woods; or we could stay and fight. I am normally the type of person who avoids fighting when I was able to, normally breaking up fights that Alianor sparked, but this time I was very willing to fight, we had been in the woods for over two weeks looking for the creature that these men had just moments before scared away, it was their fault and I was angry enough to fight them for that reasoning.

I met Alianor's sapphire eyes, seeing that she had come to the same decision that I had, _Stay and fight_. I noticed her grinning as she pulled out her sword, which looked like it was glowing, sparking with a golden fire. I went ahead and pulled out my wonderful daggers, which shimmering a deep blue, much unlike Alianor's flaming sword. As I slid my feet into a fighting, noticing how Alianor raised her hands up, as if to put her hair back, before she frowned and got into her own fighting stance, glamour's always annoyed her and it was showing through again. As I started to look closer at the men in front of me, I noticed the emblem of a rearing golden dragon emblazoned on each of their chests, meaning they were knights of Camelot. Camelot really was an amazing place, I know that Alianor loved it there also, but it really wasn't exactly a safe haven for the two of us, not when magic had a death penalty. A blonde man, with crystal blue eyes, stepped to the front of the line of men, lowering his own sword slightly, examining us. I glanced over at Alianor, I recognized the look in her eyes, and she was taking a peek into this young man's thoughts, digging deeper than what the surface could tell a person. I noticed a look of shock cross over Alianor's face, before she quickly concealed it, and sent me a message internally, _that man is Prince Arthur, heir to the throne of Camelot_. This news shocked me to the very core, my eyes widened, why in the name of magic was the **prince** **of Camelot **wondering around the wood, at night this deep into the forest. To be this far into the forest he would have had to be traveling for a while, while I didn't know why he would be here, but the facts are that he was and whatever his reason was it could not be a good thing. The prince spoke to us, making sure that we were both in the middle of his field of vision and that his eyes and face were both completely unreadable, hinting at nothing,

"Who are you, and why do you draw weapons on knights of Camelot?" This man sounded like a real prat.


	3. Chapter 3

As we stood in front of these, men, who truly did not deserve the title of being knights, I saw Alianor glance sideways at me both of us stunned for a moment, not knowing how exactly we should respond to such a statement. From the look on Alianor's face, I could tell that she was focusing hard, that she was most likely using her powers to reach into the corners of the blonde prince that stood before us. I noticed the subtle changes on Alianor's face, changes of which no normal person would have been able to noticed. Though I am not a normal person, and I had known Alianor for a very long time, so I took notice of the fact that her face changed to a look of outrage, of pure anger, and I have no clue of why, until I heard Alianor's voice in my head. _They're after the Stag as well. _After Alianor told me this I could feel my face, unnoticeable to a normal person, contour into anger and shock. How dare these people, royalty or not, believe that they could simply capture the Stag, with mere hunting weapons. Just the fact that these men believed that they could capture a creature as magnificent as the Stag as if it were a mere animal showed the complete and utter disrespect that they had toward magic. These men didn't understand the spirit of magic as a current of life that must be fully embraced in the soul, mind, and body, didn't respect the forces of old as Alianor and I did. The simple fact that these fools knew nothing of the magic, thus they would never be able to find the Stag, even if they did it would easily escape their hunt. These woods have power that make it able to conceal all that outsiders did not and could not understand, it could use its powers to protect what human hands would taint and destroy until its magic would become poison to any and all who feel magic coursing as their lifeblood, all those whose souls have joined together with magic. I could tell that Alianor was more upset than myself by the fact that they were trying to capture the Stag, it almost worried me that she would purposely upset them into fighting us, so I decided that I should step forward and speak first. Coming to this decision I stepped forward and lowered my daggers, though I did not put them away for fear I would need them, and looked directly at the blonde prince, who look slightly bewildered at Alianor and I appearance, telling him,

"You have no reason to question us. Or threaten us. We are here freely, and if you attempt to harm us we will strike back."

Arthur's gaze turned towards me, sharp as a sword, at my statement. His lip also curled in irritation at what I assume he considered our insubordination. He clearly was not use to men, or anyone for that matter, challenging his word. Arthur raised his sword, which gleamed in the fading moonlight, shadows clinging to his body, and his chain mail. Arthur spoke, his voice tight as he attempted to hide his annoyance,

"That isn't an answer boy. We have identified ourselves as soldiers of Camelot, with the authority invested in us from Camelot. You have yet to inform me why we should or shouldn't view you as a danger." Alianor moved forward to meet his challenge with her own response,

"You can hardly except us to concern ourselves with your state of mind. You will believe of us what you will. And we are beyond the boundaries of Camelot therefore your _authority_ is irrelevant. In these woods you have no ability to dictate our actions." Arthur stiffened in fury from Alianor's response, his angry gaze burrowed into Alianor's skin, his blue eyes looking to burn into her skin. I noticed the way that Alianor was looking at Arthur, a look that meant that she was looking into the boys mind, seeing who he really was as a person. . In response to the use of her powers, the flames glowing within her soul grew in potency, blazing with light that traveled from within to make her blade glow much brighter. I saw her scowl at the fact that she was starting to glow, if she were to expend any more power, then her eyes would transform from her brilliant blue to a bright silver flecked with crimson, the silver is a symbol of her abilities in the mind, and the crimson indicates her affinity for the fire element.

Both Alianor and mine own thoughts were broken instantly. Arthur's hand had reached for the hilt of his sword, as he simultaneously leaping forward toward us, his sword hovering above Alianor's throat. My own anger rose, as I noticed Alianor's anger rising as well, I was so angry with myself for not noticing the movement and stopping him before he got that close to us. I calmed myself down enough to assess the situation, and I noticed that the two blondes eyes met, clashing with each other's anger. After assessing the situation I decided that I needed to say something, to give Alianor the distraction she would need to get away from the blade, I spoke, with the fury I still felt layering my voice,

"You have sought a battle, and we will give it to you." Arthur scoffed dismissively; he did not look over at me, and his eyes never even left Alianor's face,

"We have nine men, you have two. Don't be foolish." Alianor used the distraction I gave her to twist her sword in her hand until the hilt was facing outward, and then drove the hilt deep into Arthur's stomach. Arthur had forgotten to disarm Alianor, and now he dropped the sword from her throat and bent over his stomach, face contorted in both surprise and pain. Alianor used Arthur's distraction yet again, and she swiftly brought her knee up and smashed it into Arthur's lower face. Before he fell over, I could hear the crunch of cartilage from the impact of Alianor's strong blow. The knights all rushed forward as soon as they saw their prince had been attacked, three of the knights rushed directly over to me, I assume they thought I would be a quick opponent since I lacked the full muscles an actual man would have. I whirled around, as if I was performing a well-rehearsed dance, and my blades glowed from the fading moonlight as I blocked every attack the knights sent my way. I made sure that my back wasn't face one knight for to long, that none of the knights had an opening to hit me. I briefly registered that Alianor was also fighting a knight, as I surprised one knight by catching his sword between by daggers blade, and swiftly moving them disarming the man, then sliding between his leg and hitting his pressure point successfully knocking him out. I then moved around another one of the men hitting the pressure points in his arm, making him unable to lift his sword against me, turning around throwing the third man away from me before knocking out the man who could no longer lift his sword. Alianor and I always strived not to take life unless it was absolutely necessary. There were only four knights remaining now, and they all surrounded us, wary since they had now seen how skilled we are in battle. I saw Alianor pause for a second, bringing the thought that there should be one more man here, but I quickly dismissed the thought, I could ask Alianor about the ninth man after we took care of the last four knights. I saw Alianor quickly knock out one man with the hilt of her sword from the corner of my eye, as I quickly caught the man sword and took it out of his grasp and knocked him out with the hilt of my dagger, similarly to the way I had with the other knight earlier. The last two knights came toward us, believing that they stood a better chance against us than their other knights had. Alianor fought against one knight as I fought against the other remaining knight, and I heard the ringing of the clashing iron from the blades. I danced around the knight, avoiding his blade not letting it hit me, I caught his blade between my daggers like I had with the other two men, though this man knew I would try to swipe the blade away from him, so he twisted his own blade which managed to make one of my daggers fly out of my hand and into a tree near me. Realizing that would have to injure this man to win this fight, I ducked under his sword as he swung it toward me, believing that he now had the advantage since I only had one of my two daggers, and stabbed my dagger into his shoulder, weakening the hold he had on his sword. I then hit the pressure point near his wrist, making him drop the sword all together, I then hit him in the chest pushing him back into a tree, which ended up making him fall to the ground and to black out.

I turned and realized that Alianor had also finished fighting the other knight, for a moment we both surveyed what we had done. Eight men of Camelot lay sprawled over the moss and rotten leaves that coated the forest floor, the last rays of moonlight dancing over their comatose faces.


	4. Chapter 4

I circled around the field that the defeated knights laid in making sure that none of these men had fatal injuries. Alianor and I had learned long ago that every time you take a life, its thread of life ties around your own, a constant phantom presence on your psyche that can cripple your magic, or make you pay an even greater cost­­­. After we had finished checking the men, we both made our way over to stand on both sides of Arthur, who lay slumped against a tree, his head resting upon the worn bark of the tree. Blood ran down his face, stemming from the bruised bridge of his nose that Alianor had cracked with her knee. A dark slash of bleeding also ran down the center of his forehead. I crouched down beside him and remarked,

"He looks terrible. How hard did you hit him?" Alianor gave me a simple shrug and answered,

"Perhaps my knee is made of iron. That or he has particularly weak facial bones." The most I could offer her was a small smile at her response, as I kept my eyes trained on Arthur, while thinking about how much more complex every thing had gotten now. Arthur and his knights were also looking for the Stag, at least according to what Alianor had gotten from the blondes mind, and it would be obvious that their reason to catching the Stag would be much less pure than our own. Uther Pendragon wanted the Stag, and while he had very little knowledge of the complexities surrounding magic and the Stag, he did have the resources of a prosperous, secure nation that was also endowed with an unnatural prejudice against magic. We knew that there is still a majority of people in Camelot that believed that not all magic was evil. But he still commanded their loyalty, and only a very few would dare protest the capture of the Stag.

Not only did we have the threat of Uther also being after the Stag, we had also just taken out eight knights and Prince Arthur, even though I know little about Camelot's law, I am fairly certain we had violated many of Camelot's laws. If we where captured by Camelot's knights then there was a big possibility that Alianor and my self's magic would be discovered, which would mean instant death. My thoughts were broken by Alianor's speaking.

"Perhaps attacking them was an ill-advised decision." Alianor said quietly, "We have just gained Uther Pendragon and his son as enemies. Any danger we would have encountered in pursuing the Stag has just been multiplied."

"Your logic has an odd way of working only after we've fought." I replied sighing lightly. I considered it for a few moments, and then gave her a light shrug. "We were their enemies before. This just means Arthur will be looking for us. And the Stag?" She stared out at the emerald green forest for a moment before answering,

"We will go on in our search. If they hunt us, we will evade them, and we _will _find the Stag first." Her voice determined and hardened, from the years of finding her way and accepting her gift in societies that, while respecting the powers of those blessed with magic. Neither Alianor nor I fear Uther; we have both learned that most men that were placed into a position of power were often misguided brutes that maintain their power through force and fear. Authority is a fickle mistress, and we both had our reasons not to trust it. The only powers we bowed to where the ancient forces whose energy coursed through us, our bodies becoming channels for untold power and unique abilities. In me that was manifested in a very strong enchantment power, and a deep affinity for the basic elements of water, wind, and earth. In Alianor, her powers took form in the ability to look into the minds of others, and control over the element fire.

"We best be going then, before they wake. Should I lay another tracking spell?" I asked Alianor, while picking up my daggers, which I had laid on the ground, moving toward Arthur with both of my daggers extended out. Alianor froze for a second, she must have thought I was going to kill the prince, but I simply reached for his cloak, so that I could clean off my daggers. As I brought my daggers closer to the prince's chest I heard wood crack, but I assumed that Alianor had moved and accidentally broken a branch, it had happened once or twice before, but the next thing I knew Alianor had pushed me onto the ground, leaving both of us completely breathless. I leapt to my feet before her and vigorously slid my hands over my tunic, which was now stained with clods of dirt and sprigs of moss, almost spitting with annoyance,

"Hellfires! Why did you do that?" Instead of answering me she looked around, almost franticly.

"Alianor!" I exclaimed. My usual temperate, mild personality strained with frustration and anger. My relaxed, calm nature disguises the fact I have very little patience. My placidness meant that until you knew me, almost all of my personality traits were veiled.

"There was a branch flying through the air at us," she finally replied, calmly looking me in the eyes.

"Oh," I said, instantly calming down since Alianor had a reasonable cause for her action…wait…did she say flying branch? "Did you say…flying?" She gestured to the space around Arthur's body where the branch now lay and whispered,

"As it was moving towards us and I saw it, it was falling almost…horizontal, flying toward the air directly at us. And look, it was heading towards us, yet somehow managed not to hit Arthur. And it only fell when it looked like you could have been going to stab Arthur with your daggers. It was moved unnaturally."

"You know that means there's someone with powers here?" I spoke quietly, barely above a whisper and mouth hardly moving. Alianor nodded her head, and peered around the clearing as I did the same, neither of us spotting anything that could be near a human shadow.


	5. Chapter 5

Alianor closed her eyes, trying to find the mind belonging to who ever had tried to impale me with a branch. Though I knew I wouldn't be able to find the person I glanced around the clearing again, once again not finding anything. Glancing at Alianor, I noticed her have physical recoil from her powers. I guess she had found the kid, or discovered something else around here.

_There's a boy on the left far side of the clearing. Behind the log. You go to the right; I'll go to the left. He possesses a great power, be careful. _I could clearly hear the message Alianor had sent, but it shocked me that there could be anyone in this land that had substantial magic. I sent Alianor a sharp look, this could mean trouble for us, he was with the knights of Camelot, even though he had magic himself he still might try to turn us into King Uther. King Uther was the reason that there was such a lack of magic in these lands, most people that had magic coursing through their veins had either been killed, or had fled the area…everyone but that boy, Alianor, and myself that is. I quickly focused my emotions, whipping the surprise right off of my face, putting on a mask of calm over my features. I saw Alianor grip and re-grip her sword, eager for a game of cat and mouse. I slowly and casually headed towards the log, my daggers tightly gripped in my hands. Walking up, I pretended to examine my daggers, flicking off the flecks of dirt off of them, though I was really starring at the fallen log, which was half-buried beneath molding leaves. I saw Alianor move to the left, her hand resting on her belt, just near her sword. I noticed that Alianor had a gleam in her eyes, she was ready for the game to start. We both waited, patiently and quietly, knowing that a game was about to start…a game of cat and mouse, and we certainly were not the mouse in this game. The boy quickly sprang to his feet, coming out from under the log, and started to run. Turning his back to us, he began to clumsily sprint into the forest, nearly tripping on a root as he ran. Alianor and I sprang forward, darting after him, weaving in and out of the trees. I slowed down in my running, knowing that Alianor would easily catch him. Even if Alianor was not able to catch him for some reason, we could always find him. Alianor's powers make it so that once she has reached into someone's mind part of their thoughts consistently remain with her. Though I could also use my affinity with earth to find him. I could feel the vibrations in the earth as a person moved, each and every person gives off a different vibration, no one person walks exactly the same. And I had felt the vibrations this boy gave off when he went running off, of course the vibrations would be a little different when he walked then when he ran but it would be close enough for me to be able to find him. Not to mention that this boy would go back to Arthur, I could practically feel the loyalty between the two.

I approached the area where I knew the two would be, I had felt when they had hit the ground, meaning that Alianor had tackled the boy down. I saw that Alianor's arms and legs were somehow wrapped in the boys, she must have tackled him harder then I thought. I gave off an exasperated sigh, sometimes Alianor got to caught up in her games of cat and mouse for her own good.

"You probably killed him Alianor. Was it truly necessary to jump on him?" Alianor's only response was a grunt, while trying to remove her arms from underneath the boy, but failing to do so. The boy laid there completely still, maybe he thought that we would believe him to be actually dead, but I wasn't completely sure of his reasoning. I started to give off light muffled laughs, realizing that this boy wouldn't know that Alianor was really a girl with the glamour still up. After a few minute of Alianor struggling to try to get free, she finally prodded the boy saying,

"Could you move? Otherwise we two are going to be tangled together from here to eternity." The boy lifted his head from the forest floor and turned to glare at Alianor, his dark brown eyes flashing darkly, his face streaked with filth, his hair, a shade browner than his eyes, flopping over onto his forehead. The boy did not move, instead he stubbornly staring at Alianor, his gaze defiant and surprisingly challenging given he had just fled. Alianor raised one of her eyebrows, wondering why he was trying to seem so brave now, when he had fled not but a few minutes ago. Her voice dropped down a few octaves, carrying an underlying threat to it,

"Move boy. There is no point in showing defiance by staying where you are."

"My name isn't boy!" He said petulantly, "It's…" He stopped short.

"Merlin," Alianor had finished for him, I guess she had read the information earlier when she was in his mind. . Merlin cringed away from Alainor, eyes widening in shock. He sprang away from her, only to yelp in pain as their entanglement wrenched his limbs from the movement. Gingerly, they moved apart, and Alianor slowly got to her feet. I stood before them, with a look of slight amusement on my face, it wasn't often that we actually dealt with people like this. _What do you want to do_? Alianor mentally questioned me, _Interrogate him or knock him out and leave him with the others_?

In response I raise my hand, hearing the satisfying cracking sound as a branch tore forth from a nearby tree and hurtled down toward Alianor's head, it was both my way of payback from Alianor leaving me behind again, and throwing Merlin off guard, I would hate to accidentally give the kid brain damage because he moved to the side. Alianor shrieked and threw herself, yet again, to the ground. I changed the course of the branch at the last moment and whirled through the air to squarely strike Merlin on the head. He collapsed, eyes snapping shut and body going limp. From her position on the floor Alianor glared up at me, she didn't need to speak for me to know why she was angry. I had a cross between a smirk and a smile on my face, and then I made my face a mask of calm once more. Calmly I said, as if nothing had happened,

"Should we leave him with the others?" Without replying Alianor stood and latched her fingers onto the edge of his cloak, began to drag Merlin back to the clearing. I gave a small, unnoticed, smirk to Alianor's back, happy I didn't have to help her drag Merlin back to the clearing.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Blotches of crimson and gold swarmed across Arthur's vision, like thunderclouds roiling over a horizon. The bright imprints of sunlight on his vision seared his eyelids and transformed the world into winking fragments of colors and clusters of leaves over which dripped and erupted the sunshine. Arthur pressed his fingertips into the aching flesh of his eyes and blinked till the world sharpened and its forms became clarified. Arthur gazed up at the sky of overlapping leaves, each wrinkled and drenched in vibrant colors. The leaves draped and fell from the aged trees, their branches reaching up to the morning sky. Craning his head upwards, Arthur realized that he lay on his back, amidst a pile of fallen leaves. After the realization came the pain. What felt like hundreds of scorching sunbursts exploded inside his skull, forming individual packets of fresh pain. Wincing, Arthur staggered to his feet and surveying the clearing saw each of his carefully trained knights unconscious on the forest floor. Galahad, Gawain, Lancelot, and Tristan, his chosen men, and the other knights dispatched for this mission, all seemingly sleeping underneath the sunlight. Arthur's physical pain was overridden by a tumult of disbelief, outrage, and fury. A flash of sunlight on metal drew Arthur's gaze to where his sword lay, discarded; its shining blade concealed by the crumbled forms of dead leaves. Arthur lifted it, curled his fingers around its hilt, wiping the dirt from its blade. Holding the sword in his hand, Arthur strode over to Lancelot's side. He lay on his back, a large welt surrounded by a purple bruise on his forehead, partially covered by Lancelot's dark curls. Lancelot's tawny colored hair, nearly black, brought to Arthur's mind an image of the two boys, one dark haired like Lancelot, the other with locks as golden as Arthur's own. The two boys, standing in defiance, their weapons glinting, the two boys moving with skill beyond their years, fighting, striking his men down, but not killing them. Not taking their lives when Arthur had held his sword to the fair-haired one's throat. When Arthur would have been willing to take his life, the fair-haired spared him. These realizations were like barbs in Arthur's mind, the more he considered the deeper they burrowed and the more they bled, leaking ugly clotted thoughts into his mind that could not be erased or extracted. He had thought the boys a rose, just petals to be bent or crushed. But he had discovered thorns. Arthur replaced his uncomfortable ruminations with anger, reaching down he gripped Lancelot's breastplate and bellowed,

"Wake up!" Lancelot's eyes snapped open; one hand went to his sword belt, the other rose to defend himself. Seeing Arthur, his arm dropped, his brows knitted in confusion, then glancing about him shock appeared in his dark eyes, the color of a passing shadow. His lips moved but no sound emerged. Arthur didn't want for Lancelot to speak, instead shouting,

"Now awaken the rest of the men, I want them on their feet, now!" The reality was coming back to strike Arthur again and again. A pair of woodland boys had bested him, the thought was inconceivable, and again he considered the battle in his mind, identifying his fatal mistake. Arrogance and assumption. He had assumed the boys too awestruck and frightened to strike a knight in armor, and too cowardly to carry through on their defiance. And Arthur had been arrogant enough to believe that assumption correct. Lancelot had awakened the remainder of the men by now, some expressing shock, others furry. The sunlight swarmed over the sharpened angles of their faces, marked in shadows of dirt and weariness. They stood, Arthur's chosen men and the other knights of this mission, watching Arthur, unsure what to anticipate. Arthur raked them with his eyes and realized they were missing a man. Turning, at the far edge of the clearing he sighted a figure clad in a peasant's brown clock laying face down in the grass. Having discovered a second outlet for his anger Arthur strode to Merlin and gripping his tunic, slung Merlin to his feet. Merlin's eyes snapped open and he wavered for a moment on his feet before claiming his balance. By then, Arthur was already shouting,

"My men were being beaten by a pair of scrawny boys last night and you choose to hide like a coward in side of stand and fight like a man! What are the use of those godforsaken special abilities of yours when we meet a fight and your hiding in the bushes!" Merlin's face collapsed, as if was attempting to cave in on itself, his voice was panicked but firm as he answered,

"I was following your orders! You told me I am not a soldier, I don't belong on a battlefield, and I would get in your way. I was following orders. And I kept the dark-haired one with the daggers from killing you as well. And that's not even the extent of what I did." Arthur sighed in exasperation, tapping his fingers on the hilt of his sword. Merlin continued, a note of pride in his voice,

"I discovered that those two boys are in possession of a great deal of magic between them." Arthur froze, and then recoiled, those boys were magically gifted, unnatural creatures? If they had such power why didn't they use it? It was inconceivable, why would they battle hand to hand when they could manipulate the world with their minds?

"How did you come by this knowledge?"

"Both of them had strong mental barriers up to prevent their magic from being detected, but when I fled after the battle," seeing Arthur's face Merlin quickly added, "so that I could return at a later time and ensure all of you were alright, the fair-haired one knocked me to the ground. And when we collided her mental barriers dropped briefly as her focus was jarred and I could read her power. Also, the dark-haired one I think tore a branch from a tree with her mind and used it to strike my head, knocking me out. They must have dragged my body back to the clearing." Arthur's voice lowered,

"Is their magic as strong as yours?" Merlin considered the question, and then nodded slowly.

From behind Arthur he heard Gawain's voice, deep and echoing in the clearing,

"What do we do from here, my Prince?"

Arthur turned and measured each of them with his eyes, his men standing to attention, daring him to challenge them with weakness or lack of courage. Arthur declared,

"The boys are of no consequence to us. We pursue the stag. If we encounter the lads again however, we will fight." Arthur paused and his voice hardened, sharpened on those thorns clutching his mind, "And unlike them, we can draw blood."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

"I have an idea!" I exclaimed as I came out of a row of bushes on the hill the Alianor was currently sitting on. I had apparently shocked her, because she lurched forward slightly before she turned to look at me.

"What idea?" Alianor asked me, walking down to the base of the hill, where I was standing. I was actually slightly surprised that she hadn't already heard my idea within my thoughts, but the confusion was quickly whipped away due to my excitement. I took in a slight breath; I was about to start rambling about my amazing idea,

"So we have been trying to figure out a way so that Arthur and his knights can't find the stag, right? And none of our basic concealment spells would work, because of the fact that you have to know what it is you are going to conceal, and where it is, and if you are concealing a creature, you have to have its consent or the spell won't work. And we don't know where the Stag is, we have never had any contact with it except for seeing it once, and it would reject any spell we put on it. But I think I have figured out a way to make it so that they can't find it." I for a moment and paused to take a breath, before I continued, "So I decided that we instead of concealing the Stag, instead we can block Merlin's power to find it." She shook her head slightly, after she had thought about my idea for a moment. She spoke to me, confusion lacing her voice,

"Juliana, isn't concealing the Stag the same as preventing Merlin from finding it? And we can't do a concealment spell, so yet again that's impossible." Alianor spoke. Shaking my head, I quickly replied,

"No, no. See, the spell won't be on the Stag. It will be on Merlin. We are going to block his magic. He won't be able to use his magic at all; it will be completely drained from him. And he is the only one with the abilities to track the Stag so if we remove his power, we prevent the entire group from finding the Stag." Alianor gasped, I guess realizing what my idea truly was, a fact so simple that neither of us had thought of it until now,

"If we take away Merlin's power, we take away the power of the group. Those knights can't tap into the forest, they are only here to restrain the Stag once Merlin tracks it down," but then Alianor said something else, something which I hadn't thought of. "How can we maintain a spell like that, when we are tracking the Stag ourselves and keeping up a glamour?" My face fell, I hadn't thought of the amount of magic it would take, and the amount of magic we had. We couldn't possibly keep both up, even we didn't have enough magic combined to do that, and we had a great deal of magic when combined.

"Oh…. true." Then Alianor spoke with her own excitement,

"If we bind the spell to the crystal, we won't need to maintain it! It's not a spell that needs constant infusions of power so if we put enough original power into the crystal, then the spell will feed on that until it is completed and all of Merlin's power is blocked!" A smile danced across my face, as well as Alianor. We were always ecstatic when we figured out an issue dealing with our magic. We had been friends for five long years, and we had learned how to think and compensate for one another. We had learned how to fill in the gaps in the others thoughts, and figure out a solution to almost any problem.

Alianor and I were quick in moving to the top of the hillside. We both kneeled down, and Alianor released a small globe of fire into the air, lighting the area around us. We then removed the crystal, which we were planning on using, out of our leather bag. The crystal was beautiful. We had produced it from a collision of our magic when we were young and we were still not completely certain of all of its properties. The one thing we did know was that it was an excellent holder and conduit for magic. Placing our hands on the globe I recited the words for transfer of power in Old Celtic and then we focused our magic into the globe, willing it to pass from our hands into the crystal. It was as if a current of light was running through my body, making both Alianor and my own limbs tremble as we directed it through my hands, a soft glow rising from my skin and moving into the globe, the same glow was emitted from Alianor's hands. We stood together, cupping the crystal in our hands, an orange light falling on us from above from my fiery globe, our hands covered in a stream of light. The magic felt like sparks erupting in my body, an overwhelming energy rushing through me. All my mind was focused on the spell, I saw Merlin's power in my mind, saw it bound to the crystal, entrapped and locked. We willed our magic to stop Merlin's, to take his power and draw it into the crystal, blocking his gift and power. I don't know how long Alianor and I stood there, fueling our power into the crystal.

We completed the spell and the glow receded from the crystal, the power contained within its opaque white surface. Crippling exhaustion spread in my body, my limbs suddenly feeling as if they weighed too much to even hold them up, my mind barely capable of registering what was going on. My body felt as if it was floating and then the world became to revolve and a hard surface struck my frame and darkness crowded at the edges of my vision. _Alianor_…_where's Alianor? Is Alianor okay?_ That was the last thought to flit through my mind and then there was silence and I was aware of nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as Merlin awoke he knew something had changed. Some part of his existence had been altered, removed and departed, erased as if it had never been.

And as he rose from where he had been laying on the ground at the base of a tree, the other knights and Arthur still lying in various positions around the campfire, Merlin knew immediately what was absent. The usual pressure of the magic within his body on his veins, the hum of energy that existed in a realm outside of himself, it was gone. His magic was gone.

It was as if a limb had been severed, sliced away from him while he slept with no knowledge of it. It was gone; his magic was gone, taken from him. Merlin's stomach sank as he thought of the only person, or people, powerful enough to block his magic. The two boys, it had to be them. He could feel their magical imprint on his magic, forming strong barriers around his power. In his mind Merlin traced the imprint of the spell and found it was leading to a clearing south of their current location.

Merlin sat up from where he had been laying on the forest floor, shaking the damp leaves out of his hair and off his clothing. Merlin picked his way across the sleeping bodies of the knights over to where Arthur was sleeping. The two knights who had kept watch during the night watched Merlin with some interest as Merlin knelt beside Arthur and shook his shoulder, whispering urgently,

"Wake up Arthur." Arthur blearily opened his eyes and moaned before rolling up to the sitting position. He snapped,

"What do you want Merlin?" Merlin told him in a low, frantic voice,

"My magic, my magic is gone." Arthur blinked at him and tilted his head to the side, a confused look flitting across his face.

"What do you mean, gone? How could you have lost something like that?"

"The two boys, the ones who attacked us yesterday. They preformed a spell while I was spelling, blocking my power."

"Why would they want to do that? It's not like your powers are that useful anyways."

"If I don't have my powers, we can't track the Stag. If we can't track the Stag, we can't find the Stag." Realization slowly dawned on Arthur's face and he groaned, kneading his knuckles in his forehead. He muttered slowly, as if he was trying to keep his patience but failing,

"So those two boys blocked your power. And now there's no way to find the Stag. Any way to undo the spell?" Merlin considered this for a moment and then replied,

"No way that I can think of. They are the only ones who can undo the spell. However, I can tell you where the spell is originating from. You see, I can track the residue of magic between me and wherever the spell is coming from. I don't know if that's where the boys are, but the spell blocking my powers is coming from an area due south of where we are." Arthur nodded and stood, a look of determination hardening his face. Merlin scrambled to his feet as well. Arthur barked out a series of quick orders,

"You three," he pointed to the knights on duty, and the other knight that had been added to this mission but was not part of Arthur's specially trained group, "Go back to Camelot and tell my father that we are now tracking down a pair of sorcerers. We are going to capture them and they will lead us to the Stag. Tell him we need reinforcements and to send another brigade of troops as quickly as possible. Everyone else, wake up and get moving. We leave in 10 minutes." The three knights acknowledged the command and left immediately, heading off into the forest in the direction of Camelot. The rest of the knights rose slowly and began clearing up the camp. Merlin exclaimed incredulously,

"You aren't seriously thinking of going after them?" Arthur turned to Merlin and frowned at him, as if confused why Merlin was still standing there, bothering him. He replied,

"Of course I am. Those two brats knocked my entire brigade unconscious and they are directly blocking our ability to complete the mission. I am going to find them and make them lead us to the Stag, since they seem to know how to find it better then you do." Merlin cried out,

"What happened to not going after them?" Arthur shrugged,

"That was before they took away our ability to find the Stag. Plus, now we have a way to find them since you can track the spell. Ergo… of course I'm going after them!" Arthur turned away and began to strap on his armor that he had removed for the night. Merlin followed and asked, a note of disbelief still in his voice,

"And how to you propose to capture them? Do you not remember what happened last time we fought them?" Arthur's voice was confident and self-assured,

"We underestimated them last time, that won't happen again." He flashed a bright, recklessly excited smile at Merlin, "Don't worry Merlin, I've got a plan."


End file.
